A cross-sectional survey on information access through hospital's official account on new media and its association with antenatal care knowledge and health behaviors of pregnant women under COVID-19 epidemic

Objective To explore the association between accessing antenatal care information through hospitals' official new media accounts and antenatal care knowledge and individual prevention behavior under COVID-19 epidemic, and to provide evidence for improving the emergency plan for maternity health care services in China under public health emergencies. Methods The online survey was conducted from Feb 5th to Mar 1st, 2020, at the peak of the COVID-19 epidemic in China. Approaches of accessing antenatal care information, COVID-19 related antenatal care knowledge and individual prevention behavior was collected via cross-sectional design. Results A total of 1 936 valid questionnaires were obtained from 21 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. Under the COVID-19 epidemic, 75.4% of the pregnant women reported they got institutional service and health education information from hospitals' official new media accounts such as WeChat and Weibo. Multivariate Logistic analysis showed that pregnant women who received information from official accounts of new media had higher scores of COVID-19 relevant antenatal care knowledge (aOR=1.36, 95%CI:1.08-1.71, P<0.01)and individual prevention behaviors(aOR=1.46, 95%CI:1.18-1.82, P<0.01) than those who obtained information from other sources. Conclusion The access to antenatal care knowledge via hospitals' official social media accounts was associated with better antenatal care knowledge and individual prevention behaviors among pregnant women. Under major public health emergency, it is suggested for health institutions to disseminate antenatal health care information via hospitals' official accounts in new media like Wechat and Weibo. Appropriate training should be developed to ensure the quality of health education and service provision in official new media accounts. © 2021, Editorial Department of Fudan University Journal of Medical Sciences. All right reserved.